Soup to Nuts

Soup to Nuts (1930)

Runtime: 70 minutes 

Directed by: Benjamin Stoloff

Starring: Ted Healy and the men to be later known as The Three Stooges

From: Fox

This was a good movie to watch last night to celebrate the 131st birthday of Shemp Howard. Those not familiar w/ the early lore of The Three Stooges, at this time they were a vaudeville act of Moe, Larry, & Shemp but led by their leader/manager, a dude named Ted Healy. This was their debut on film. A few years later, Shemp left the act, Moe & Larry dumped the allegedly abusive alcoholic Healy, and added Curly. This was also of interest to me as a co-writer of the script was Rube Goldberg. Yes, the guy who the phrase “Rube Goldberg Machines”-an idea I’ve referenced more than once in reviews. He even has a cameo as himself.

To copy and past from his Wiki article:

“Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways.”

As for the movie… it made me realize that Ted Healy and his Stooges would never have been beloved even in 2026 like The Three Stooges are. I don’t know if people back then were supposed to like a loudmouth verbally abusive jerk that was Healy’s lead character, but I certainly didn’t last night.

The plot: Healy works at a costume shop, ran by a guy obsessed with Rube Goldberg Machines; this is why the business is bankrupt and taken over by creditors. Healy also enjoys hanging out at the fire station where Moe (billed in the credits as HARRY HOWARD, no lie), Larry, & Shemp work at… just because. A mute fireman named Freddie also is a fireman; there’s always a risk in injecting a political reference in a review but saying that “Freddie has Ben Shapiro’s eyebrows as they appeared in a recent viral Photoshopped image” is an accurate statement!

The Stooges are only shown in a few scenes before the final act; Healy is in many more… my belief that the movie is “fine” is DESPITE Healy and his odious presence. The other characters and scenarios thankfully gave me enough entertainment to counteract Ol Ted. This includes child actor Billy Barty (who in the 60’s had a TV show on KTLA in Los Angeles that would air Three Stooges shorts), Mack Swain of The Gold Rush fame and Heinie Conklin, who would appear in a few dozen Stooge shorts.

As a fan, it was fascinating to see routines and lines of dialogue that would appear when they were on their own. Most people, there likely is little need to check out Soup to Nuts & its threadbare plot unless you’re a huge Stooge fan and/or had the foreknowledge that there was a person named Rube Goldberg.